Movement

aboxofchocolates

I started feeling the "flutters" about two weeks ago.  Any idea (or personal experience) of how much longer till someone can feel the kicks from the outside?

smoochie041719

@aboxofchocolates I bet everyone is a little different based on body type etc, but for me personally I started feeling flutters at 17, daily kicks at 19+3, and by 23 they could be felt on the outside if the person applied a little pressure. Oh, and that's with an anterior placenta which I'm sure affects it, so without an anterior it could be sooner! 

Nolegirl1185

@aboxofchocolates this is my first pregnancy so I cannot go off past experience, but I started feeling flutters at 15 weeks randomly - sometimes days without, at 18 weeks I felt it daily, and today (25+5) I felt a kick from the outside for the first time.  The nurse at my OB's office keeps telling me that I may not ever feel the baby from the outside due to my weight so I'm happy that I did today  

KirstinH88

I had a guilt free Dr. Pepper last night and Samuel was moving like crazy! It was the best. I had DH put his hand on my lower stomach and he got to feel a few movements. 

smallanimal

My little baby is so irregular.  There are times when I really hardly feel her all day (times like this he seems to be higher up in my stomach), but two days ago I got a massive kickfest for about 24 hours on and off.  Trying not to let it worry me, but it is difficult.  If I do not feel him for a few hours, I start to get anxious.  Not sure how to manage this.  He does not have a proper pattern yet.  What I eat or drink seems to have little relation - yesterday I ate mostly sugar, yet he hardly moved... Maybe being irregular is normal? 

super_sam03

Last night was the 1st time DH got to feel the kicks.  Until very recently, I've felt the little flutters and a few jabs but it's never been strong enough to feel from the outside.  Last night we were watching a movie and my top twin was giving me some punches.  I call DH over and he freaked a little.  He's like "Is it all starting to feel real now?!"  I'm like "I had a pretty good idea it's been real since I'm the one carrying them, but I see it's definitely hit you!" It was the coolest experience to date. 

smallanimal

Inspired by @cafedisco in the viability week thread, here is my baby movement-anxiety stages/progression

Stage 1:  wow, the baby moved, how amazing!
Stage 2:  he hasn't moved for some time - wonder if everything is ok?
Stage 3:  omg, he has not moved for hours, time to binge drink cold OJ and poke the belly... move.. move
Stage 4:  i may have felt a faint movement.. is this enough?  Why isn't he moving!
Stage 5:  there is something wrong with my baby! call my husband! Call the midwife! oh my god, should I go to the hospital??
Stage 6:  oh thank God. he is moving. 
Stage 7: still moving! I am the happiest mother in the world!!! 
Stage 8:  holy crap, he is partying in there like there is no tomorrow!  wahoo!
Stage 9:  maybe he is moving too much!  what if there is something wrong?  
Stage 10:  ok, he quietened down.  *fall asleep in exhaustion*
Step 11:  repeat from Step 2 after a couple of hours. 

anyone else can relate or is it just me? 

aboxofchocolates

that about sums it up.  @smallanimal

kitkat8387

@smallanimal this is basically my daily routine

HappyAnjel

@super_sam03 yay for your husband! It's great seeing then get excited as it's not always easy for then to connect before birth... My husband was FINALLY able to feel the baby move today I've been able to see and feel kicks from outside for weeks but baby would stop kicking the moment DH out his hand on my stomach every single time!

@KirstinH88 this is probably more a FFFC but I drink a can of soda almost every day and don't feel guilty. I drank a ton of caffeine and sugar pre pregnancy.. I was so strict with what I ate and drank with DD but I had migraines that lasted days.. most soda isnt that high in caffeine and I watch my sugar intake otherwise.

smallanimal

@HappyAnjel
I also drink some soda and caffeine.  As long as you stay under 200mgs of caffeine a day, it's fine - that's one strong coffee or two mugs of instant.  As for the soda, I know it is trash, but I balance it out with the 5 portions of fruit and veg daily and that makes it fairly guilt free.  Remember happy mom happy baby

so nice that your man felt the kicks!!  Look at all these tough guys, getting all soft from a little movement

HappyAnjel

Yeah a Pepsi is 38 mg caffeine per 12 oz (the size of a normal can in US) Hardly something I'm going to come close to the 200mg limit on.. heck yesterday I had two. 

smoochie041719

Tonight was the first time we saw movements from the outside! I have a suspicion I probably could have seen them before now, but I was never in a spot where I could sit and look. Pretty neat!

ebloom3

The baby has been going alien on me for a few days now. I see a lot of rolling movements from the outside. During class today, I was sitting while my students were running a discussion. I was wearing a tight-ish sweater and suddenly there is a big movement and a lump starts rolling across my belly. I don't think kids noticed, but I am sure one of these days they will!

schef070911

@ebloom3 yes! I just started seeing these last night. Nugget was putting on quite the show, but of course when she did the "rolling movement" DH was looking on his phone and then she didn't do it again haha. It's so cool!

Nolegirl1185

DH felt the our baby kick for the first time yesterday!  Not once, but three times.  He was a little skeptical when I told him to put his hand on my belly because every other time, baby boy has stopped moving. This time he felt it and I WISH I could have caught his reaction on video.  It was the sweetest thing, EVER!  Then he kicked two more times right in a row and DH was in awe.  Made me love him even more lol. 

lovelongdog06

So I was lying on my left side and just felt some part of this baby boy slide from the top of my belly all the way to my hip. Does this mean he flipped completely around? My first had an anterior placenta and I felt almost nothing...I'm so bad at belly mapping too!

catem07

This baby is doing barrel rolls on the regular...

smoochie041719

I've started to get what I'm pretty sure are feet sticking out right below my rib cage which makes me hopeful baby is head down! Won't know for sure until my 36 week apt when they do the first position check (34+3 now) 

dam0ne4

I'm trying to belly map too.  I think she's head up and posterior.  I hope I'm wrong but most movement is low and to the front.  I have an ultrasound next Monday so I'll have to ask 

bww_0331

At my last appointment (2 weeks ago at 33+2) the dr said baby was head down. Up to that point I had been feeling 99% of my movement in my right side. Now for the last week this kid has been going side to side and I feel a decent amount of movement everywhere. Hoping he is still head down at my appointment tomorrow but not sure. 

nwshay

I can definitely feel a head on my left, a butt on my right, and feet near (or under sometimes, ouch!) My ribcage.

HappyAnjel

This baby was exactly where I thought at my last appointment head down but to the left feet kicking to the right.. now it seems like his butt switches sides hoping he's still head down

HGRich

Lucy HAD been jamming her feet into my right ribs until they felt straight up bruised. And her hiccups were low and she kept head butting my crotch and I thought I could feel hands around my left hip. So I thought we were good. Now I'm feeling the vast majority of her movement on the right and left sides of my belly like she's transverse. Great. I have no idea if I'm right but it's fun to try to figure out what's what! At my first baby shower I felt what I'm pretty sure was her back and booty curled up on the right side with feet in my right ribs because that side of my belly was rock hard and the left was pretty squishy. Haha! 

Nolegirl1185

Baby has been head down for several weeks now (based off all my lovely BPP's) and I definitely feel the pressure when he turns his head.  The right side of my belly is always really hard and sticks up farther and the left is much softer. I haven't had any rib pain at all...crossing fingers!

smallanimal

At 32+6, movements are crazy, sometimes my whole bump moves and waves around!  slightly worried about presentation though - baby was head down for two weeks (scan confirmed) and I have felt him always on left side and specific places, and now he feels all over the place and on sides like @HGRich  said.  Worried a bit. 

andrea0418

I cannot for the life of me identify what body part is where but the dr said he is still breech 

smoochie041719

I feel movement all over the place as well, including way out to the sides, down low, and in my ribs. I'm assuming it's just because baby is pretty big at this stage in the game. I have been feeling what I think are hiccups in the evenings down low for about 2 weeks, and then the feet up high like I mentioned in my previous post, but honestly it's so hard for me to tell what's what and what's where especially with an anterior placenta because I think it still blocks or dulls some of the movements. 

cafedisco

It seems like a lot of babies hang out on the right side...I wonder what that's about.  As with DD, this baby is so far to the right that my bump is completely lopsided.  It looks ridiculous from the top (although why a lopsided bump looks any goofier than a gigantic even bump at all, I have no clue!).  I don't think you can tell from the front as much though. 

smoochie041719

Yes, @cafedisco mine definitely feels and looks off to the right side! Interesting to hear that it's pretty common. 

MWoodside

My little one is head down but oblique. Her head is in my left hip, butt in my right ribs and feet stretched out often into my left side. I was pretty sure of this positioning, and it was confirmed via u/s when I was in L&D last week. I just want her head down for good so I can stop stressing about it. I know she has time to move though.

aboxofchocolates

Question(s).  How do you all know where the different body parts are?  Are you just going off of what the doctor has said or can you tell somehow?  
Is anyone doing kick counts?  My doctor hasn't told me to but all the apps say to start. 

HGRich

@aboxofchocolates I'm not having any ultrasounds so I'm just guessing. Her heavier movements I'm assuming are her head. And then some of the little protrusions I get are clearly feet or knees based on size. They told me they'd start checking her position by feel at 36 weeks. 

I've been told to only do kick counts if I haven't felt her in awhile and have any concerns. So I don't do them except maybe once or twice when she's had quieter days. But then she gets ten of some kind of movement in, in an hour, and I realize she's just being lazy. So I don't think I've been concerned enough to do them regularly. I am hyper aware of her routine though so if ever she was really quiet during a time of day when she's usually active, I might do them. 

MWoodside

@aboxofchocolates, I can just tell. I can feel her head and her butt and then I know where her hands and feet are from the movements.

i do kick counts twice a day during her active times.

catem07

@aboxofchocolates I don't do kick counts. If I realize I haven't felt her in a while, I lie down if I can or just focus on her, will her to move, and put my hand on my stomach if I'm at work or somewhere I can't lie down. If I feel a couple of movements that satisfies me. 

smoochie041719

@aboxofchocolates I am sort of the same as previous posters with my kick counts. I do them sort of informally by sitting down and paying more attention if I haven't felt much movement, especially during what would normally be an active time, but I haven't had any moments of concern up to this point so I haven't been to worried about counting. 

smallanimal

@aboxofchocolates I do kick counts but only because I made it into a ritual.  I go to bed in the evening, have a large glass of cold water and start waiting.  While I wait, I use the tummy oil and massage around, and it's a bit like my bonding time.  thankfully he is kicking around happily all day

as for how to feel the baby parts, I am getting quite experienced because of all the scans and checks I am getting.  the most prominent is the knees and elbows, because those have a grazing movement (thats when impact is moving around and covers a larger area, the tummy is "waving" - a bit like when you movew your tongue around in your mouth , mapping the entirety of your inner cheek with it), rather than feet or hands, which punch or kick (thats when the impact is on smaller area and goes up and down). The head and the bottom feel heavy when moving but does not really "impact", but the protrusion is visible from the outside, e.g. tummy changes shape, gets a bit lopsided, or too poignant forward.  Does this make sense?. 

SnarkasaurusRex

@aboxofchocolates I've never done kick counts. My OB actually suggested against them because so many women freak out about them and miss the smaller movements, so they go into L&D when it's not necessary. Her recommendation was that, if you really didn't notice any movement during the day, to have some "quiet time" after dinner to see if she resumes normal movement. If she doesn't, drink some cold water or OJ, lay down for a bit and do a kick count - 6 kicks in an hour is her guideline. Since I'm on my feet all day every day there are a lot of times where I don't feel a ton of movement, but she almost always goes crazy after dinner. My OB says that I rock her to sleep all day long, so when I'm still in the evenings she's well rested and ready to party.

I'm awful at belly mapping. I always thought with DS that the gliding movements were his knees and elbows because I always felt them on the side, but with this one I only get those movements right at the top of my bump...the only thing I can think it would be is her butt because I can't imagine how she would have herself twisted in there for that to be the case, haha. I'll probably be sent for a scan in a few weeks to check position, so we'll see if she's head down or not. I suspect, because it's been a long time since I've felt anything remotely kick or punch like, that she's head down with her back slightly to my right side and her butt sticking out.

shaunessa

@cafedisco
 
I completely agree with you about babies hanging out more on the right side.  I even have more stretch marks on that side from DS!  I was hoping this one would even them out, but nope....his lil bro likes the right side as well!

chelle087

This one is hanging out on my left side...my belly is definitely lopsided. I can usually tell where his butt is because it sticks out a bit.

I was was pretty sure that he was head down, which my dr confirmed by feel at my last appointment. I won't have a scan to check position. My OB practice just does it by feel.